On Her Way...

After a pretty rainy week (thank you, Fay), this morning was a beautiful, clear day. Pefect for Sara's last few moments at home. Her plane left from GSP at 11:08 on the dot this morning. Mom, Dad, Crystal, Nate, Geri, Justin, Brian, and Kate came to see her off. We all visited for about 40 minutes until it was time for her to go through security. Then we took the road that goes behind the airport and waited at the end of runway to watch her plane take off. We saw it taxi, but unfortunately we couldn't see the actual taking-off of the plane.

As Sara's plane circled around to head toward Atlanta (her one layover before heading for Salt Lake), she was able to see our house. Goodbye Home!

Miami for a day

In preparation for her mission, Sara had to appear at the Italian Consulate in Miami, Florida, to apply for her visa. It was a long day. She left from GSP at 6:10 AM, had a layover in Atlanta, and arrived in Miami around ten . Two sisters missionaries picked her up and took her to the consulate where it took about 10 minutes to take care of applying for her visa. They then took her to lunch and dropped her back off at the airport. Basically, she watched the sun come up on the trip down and watched it set on the way back. The same day that Sara went down there was when Hurricane Fay was just hitting Florida, so we were worried about her getting stuck down there because of the bad weather. Sara said it was the roughest airplane ride ever. On her layover in Atlanta on the way home her friend Lisa came to the airport and had dinner with her.

Italy Rome Mission!

In June we speculated every day for a week that "that" would be the day that Sara's mission call would come in the mail. On Saturday, June 6th, we went to Charleston for a YSA beach trip. Of course that was the day that Sara's mission call finally came in the mail! We then had to wait all day long until we got home around 9:00 that night before she could finally open it. She was told that she would be reporting to the MTC on September 3rd and serving in the Italy Rome Mission for 18 months, speaking the Italian language.